People don’t like ads. They never did. Consumers avoid ads in video content with ad blockers, or by skipping ahead and sometimes even paying a premium to avoid video ads completely.

As new digital opportunities emerge, marketers and agencies will look to how they can adapt and improve their messaging. Livestreaming has been around for years - YouTube Live (2006), Twitch (2011), Periscope (2015), Facebook Watch (2016) - but livestreaming was often limited to the platform where the livestream broadcast was offered and the technical ability of the content creator.

We have all dabbled with online meeting software through the course of the recent pandemic – using platforms like Zoom, Skype and Microsoft Teams.

People use their phones and social platforms nonstop. The preferred usage patterns that match these devices and their most common format and display calls for brief, concise, and global language. Hashtags and emoji are popular on social media and phones because they are simple, universal, and effective ways to communicate.

In March of 2020, many universities made an unprecedented decision to transition to online classes for the rest of the Spring semester. Then orientations, graduations, and summer classes were affected by COVID-19 as well. There is no doubt that this pandemic has changed higher education in a big way. In these uncertain times, students need guidance and reassurance from institutions.

What’s your new pandemic-era social media routine?
We’ve-always-done-it-that-way might have worked fairly well up to this point. But we're now working in unprecedented times.

Learning the Ropes of Social Media

Your website’s metadata is crucial to search engines and to customers being able to discover your information and in order to use it to research or make a purchase.

2016 has been a great year for social media and the ever evolving platforms and tools that we use.  As Thanksgiving approaches, we’re looking back at some of the biggest updates and social media releases that we’re thankful for and that have helped move our brand and clients forward.

Good for your brand page? Good for engagement? Not necessarily both. Facebook's new News Feed algorithm puts more emphasis on livestreaming. Yes, sigh, Buzzfeed got 800,000 live viewers for exploding a watermelon with rubber bands during a Facebook Live session. What is a normal experience for most brands? 

A recent Poynter Institute experiment with Live posts and non-Live posts showed a vast difference in Reach and Engagement.

Poynter’s live video of Corey Lewandowski accepting a CNN position reached more than 6,000 users for every engagement. Another top article post on changes to the Associated Press Stylebook only reached 36.

Poynter then looked at the post clicks and engagements these two posts received. The post linking to the Stylebook article had 7,851 post clicks — almost 40 times more than the Lewandowski live video.

Best Practices for Facebook Live

We want to achieve both Reach and Engagement with our published posts on Facebook. So while the goal of this new feature is to increase brand awareness by having Facebook deliver Reach to a wider audience, engagement is not automatic. That’s on you to create a great experience and make the engagement happen.

Here are some best practices for a good Facebook Live experience:

• Pre-announcement for Facebook Live post: Let your audience know when and what is coming. Write a compelling description before going live, then broadcast for at least 8-10 minutes. You can go live for up to 90 minutes.
• Check your connection: Wait for a strong signal/WiFi. Create a seamless experience.
• Questions and comments during a session: Actively engagement with the audience during the session. Answer questions, affirm statements and ask follow up questions.
• Major events or product Q&A: Pick your spots. Align with an event or discuss a product or product launch during your Facebook Live session.
• Behind the scenes: Some news organizations broadcast during breaks and commercials. Show your fans unique “behind the scenes” content.
• Call out to your audience to tap the Follow button, and opt-in to get notifications of upcoming Facebook Live broadcasts

Great Example of Facebook Live

Facebook has come out with new features including filters and the ability to doodle while going live. This is clearly targeted at users who do these things on Snapchat. Facebook has also suggested the ability to add multiple users who can tag-team and share a live broadcast. This is supposed to roll out in August.

What’s a good example or case study of Facebook Live? Check out Gettysburg National Military Park, which did a great job with the recent anniversary of the 1863 battle. Remember that your session must be compelling, unique and informative.

As Brand pages on Facebook fight harder and harder to stay relevant in the friend zone of their follower’s newsfeeds, an upcoming Facebook algorithm shift will hurt reach for a majority of brands, reducing their content in many people’s timelines. This means that brands will have an even tougher time getting their organic, unpaid content placed prominently in people’s feeds. The trick to upping your brand’s chances? Make your content even more share-worthy.